Police Car

Apopka police searched this morning for a person who fired a shotgun at a police cruiser after the officer had gone into a convenience store. No one was injured. The shooting occurred about 4 a.m. at the 7-Eleven at 1117 East Semoran Blvd. while the vehicle was parked and unoccupied. The officer had walked into the store to check on the night clerk and get a cup of coffee. "It appears at this time that the officer foiled an attempted armed robbery," police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Walsh said.

I watched the images of police in riot gear and protesters looting stores or running from tear gas in Ferguson, Mo., this week and thought: That could have been us. What happened to Trayvon Martin isn't anything for Florida to be proud of. Neither is the state's "stand your ground" law that received so much attention in the wake of Trayvon's shooting death. But Central Florida, specifically Sanford, can take a little satisfaction in knowing that during the tense days after Trayvon was shot, this was a place where protesters peacefully demonstrated and police didn't stand in their way. People came by the busload from Atlanta and South Florida.

Someone broke into an Orlando police officer's marked vehicle and stole two weapons, according to an agency report released Monday. The police car was burglarized sometime between Jan. 23 and Sunday. An agency-issued Bushmaster AR-15, Remington shotgun and rounds were stolen. The case remains under investigation, and no other details were released.

KISSIMMEE - DNA from an aborted fetus led to the arrest last weekend of a suspect charged with having sex with a 14-year-old girl he met on Facebook, according to police records. Kevon Butler, 23, was charged over the July Fourth holiday weekend with seducing an impregnating the teen last fall after renting a room for the night at a motel on Vine Street, records state. The girl's parents found about the relationship when Butler's girlfriend called and told them about the underage affair with the convicted cocaine dealer.

Two witnesses told investigators that an Orlando police car hit a bicyclist Monday, then took off without stopping, a police report released Tuesday shows. The bicyclist, identified in the report as Charles Cuprill-Nazario, 36, suffered scrapes on both arms and a dislocated left shoulder that may also have been broken, the report states. Cuprill, a dentist who lives in Lake Nona, could not be reached Tuesday night. He told officers that he was pedaling north on Narcoossee Road in a bicycle lane about 7:35 a.m. when a police car turned right at Dowden Road and hit him. The car's turn signal was not on, he told investigators.

An Edgewood police cruiser struck a fire hydrant and power pole Thursday night, leading to a small flood. The hydrant snapped open beneath the ground and the resultant flooding sank two vehicles in a nearby car-sales lot into a big pit of water, said Edgewood Police Det. Ronald Beardslee. The crash happened because the officer driving the cruiser lost control of the vehicle while chasing someone in the area of Orange Avenue and Drennan Road, Beardslee said. No other information about the crash was available.

A 23-year-old Daytona Beach man faces two counts of aggravated assault, accused of intentionally ramming his vehicle into a Daytona Beach police patrol car. Dorset Eustace McLeaven Jr. also faces charges of possession crack cocaine and marijuana and was charged with violation of probation. He is being held without bail in the Volusia County Branch Jail. Daytona Beach police Officer Nicholas Gurucharri said in a report he was on patrol in the Palmetto Park Apartment when he checked out a 2009 Chevrolet Impala in the 400 block of Lockhart Street.

A man placed in the back of a police car went berserk and thrashed wildly, injuring himself and a police officer. Altamonte Springs police arrested 33-year-old Angelo Bocchino Sunday for disorderly conduct and resisting officers at a bar. When he was placed in the police's squad car he went on a violent rage. A video cam inside the police car recorded the incident. In the video police can be seen trying to restraint Bocchino, even using a Taser on him. During the scuffle a police officer was struck in the nose, according to MyFOXOrlando-WOFL 35. Police said Bocchino admitted to being intoxicated, but said he was not on drugs.

A bicyclist was injured Monday morning when he was knocked down, possibly by an Orlando police car that drove away without stopping, Orlando police said. The accident occurred about 7:30 a.m. at Narcoossee Road and Dowden Road. Police were sorting out details, including the identity of the driver of the vehicle, which witnesses described as a Crown Victoria with Orlando Police Department markings. They did not identify the bicyclist, whose shoulder was injured when he was thrown from the bike.

Two witnesses told investigators that an Orlando police car hit a bicyclist Monday, then took off without stopping, a police report released Tuesday shows. The bicyclist, identified in the report as Charles Cuprill-Nazario, 36, suffered scrapes on both arms and a dislocated left shoulder that may also have been broken, the report states. Cuprill, a dentist who lives in Lake Nona, could not be reached Tuesday night. He told officers that he was pedaling north on Narcoossee Road in a bicycle lane about 7:35 a.m. when a police car turned right at Dowden Road and hit him. The car's turn signal was not on, he told investigators.

A bicyclist was injured Monday morning when he was knocked down, possibly by an Orlando police car that drove away without stopping, Orlando police said. The accident occurred about 7:30 a.m. at Narcoossee Road and Dowden Road. Police were sorting out details, including the identity of the driver of the vehicle, which witnesses described as a Crown Victoria with Orlando Police Department markings. They did not identify the bicyclist, whose shoulder was injured when he was thrown from the bike.

A police officer was hit but not hurt Monday night by a fleeing stolen truck whose driver is being sought, authorities say. Officers are interviewing Kenneth Richardson, 58, who was driving the stolen black pickup when police pulled it over in the parking lot of ABC Liquor in the 2700 block of S. Orange Avenue. But Richardson wasn't behind the wheel when the pickup struck the officer. Police said the front-seat passenger slid into the driver's seat after officers removed Richardson from the car. The passenger backed the pickup into the police car several times before pulling forward and sideswiping the officer, according to police.

A 20-year-old Apopka man was arrested Tuesday after police said he admitted shooting up an Apopka police car at a 7-Eleven. An anonymous tip led officers to Tyler Endsley, who told investigators he was high on Xanax and marijuana when he shot the patrol car with a 10-gauge shotgun about 4 a.m. Sunday, department spokesman Officer Ed Chittenden said. Police arrested Endsley on charges of attempted armed robbery, use of a firearm during a felony, displaying a firearm in public and criminal mischief.

Apopka police searched this morning for a person who fired a shotgun at a police cruiser after the officer had gone into a convenience store. No one was injured. The shooting occurred about 4 a.m. at the 7-Eleven at 1117 East Semoran Blvd. while the vehicle was parked and unoccupied. The officer had walked into the store to check on the night clerk and get a cup of coffee. "It appears at this time that the officer foiled an attempted armed robbery," police spokeswoman Sgt. Kim Walsh said.

A driver whose sports utility vehicle hit a deputy this afternoon in Lockhart has been arrested, according to the Orange County Sheriff's Office. The driver, who has not been named, will being charged with aggravated assault with a motor vehicle on a law-enforcement officer, according to OCSO spokeswoman Jane Watrel. According to the sheriff's office, a deputy saw a man sleeping in a black Hyundai SUV at the gas pumps at the 7-Eleven at Maitland Boulevard and Rose Avenue at 3:15 p.m. When the deputy leaned in to wake the driver, the man suddenly awoke and sped off, hitting the deputy, who was able to jump back and was unhurt.

A handcuffed man being transported to jail escaped from a police car after telling the officer driving that he was claustrophobic and couldn't breathe, authorities said late Friday. The 19-year-old had been arrested on a shoplifting charge at the Altamonte Mall about 8 p.m. and was being taken to the Seminole County Jail when the officer opened the window slightly, Altamonte Springs police Lt. Derrick Becton said. Somehow, the prisoner opened the door from the outside and ran off at County Home Road, near Flea World and not far from the jail in Sanford.

An Orlando police patrol car was involved in a minor crash with a school bus on State Road 408 this afternoon, the Florida Highway Patrol is reporting. FHP Sgt. Kim Montes said the police officer was trying to pass the school bus and sideswiped it about 2:45 p.m. in the westbound lanes of S.R. 408 near John Young Parkway. Troopers said there were five students on board but no one was injured. It does not appear either vehicle was significantly damaged, Montes said. Preliminary information indicated the police officer was at fault in the crash.

A 28-year-old Apopka man was arrested Saturday morning after he evaded arrest, fought an officer and led police on a wild car chase, Melbourne Police said. Brandon Lemar Culver is facing 11 charges - including battery and aggravated assault on a police officer, resisting arrest, reckless driving and violation of probation. Around 3:30 a.m., police saw Culver speeding down US-1 near Old Colonial Way in Melbourne at 20 mph over the speed limit, police said. An officer tried to stop Culver as he pulled into a Kangaroo Express gas station, but Culver had other plans for the night.

Police have recovered a car that was stolen this weekend in Winter Haven while a 9-year-old girl was in the back seat, but they're still seeking the public's help to find three men suspected in the theft. The 2012 Chevy Impala was stolen about 12:45 a.m. Saturday, Winter Haven police said, from a Circle K store parking lot. Police said the girl's mother went inside the store, then came out to see three men entering the vehicle as her daughter exited. The car thieves fled north on First Street, police said.